Mustang Engine Swaps - Pop Swaps

Out with the good and in with the betteran overview of popular Mustang engine swaps

Tom Wilson

May 6, 2011

Coyote 5.0

Ford Racing is pushing the Coyote as a crate and swap engine, and with its introduction of the M-6017-A504V Control Pack for the Coyote/manual trans combination, the swap future of this exciting new engine is guaranteed. With minimal tuning, it offers well over 400 super-smooth horsepower, great fuel mileage, light weight, and new-engine coolness.

At the moment there isn’t much knowledge of the Coyote as a swap motor because it’s so new. We’ve seen a Fox installation that seems to have gone well, and with the aftermarket tooling up headers and other supporting pieces, we believe the Coyote will offer the most sophisticated, newest design engine in a real-world install package for all S197 and earlier Mustangs. It won’t be as inexpensive as pushrod power, but it will require far less coin than a Terminator 4.6 or GT500 5.4, and offer no-excuses power potential.

Technical hard points center around the Coyote’s involved electronics and electric power steering. FRPP’s $1,500 Control Pack answers the electronic issues, and KRC Power Steering is working on an add-on hydraulic power steering pump. BBK already has a long-tube swap header for Foxes with a matching X-pipe, extra wideband O2 sensor bungs, and you choice of cats or off-road configuration, plus High Flow Fuel Systems has return and returnless fuel systems to suit.

Early interest in putting a 5.0 in a 5.0 has given us our first Coyote/Fox hybrid. The news is that the Four-Valve Coyote 5.0 fits without cutting anything, and because the ’96-’04 4.6 engine mounts are a bolt-on, Maximum Motorsports 4.6 Fox swap K-member is the way to go. Bellhousing bolt pattern matches the 4.6/5.4, so the usual transmissions are a bolt-up proposition, and overall engine length is essentially the same as a 4.6, so we don’t foresee issues in the SN-95 or New Edge engine compartments.

GT500 5.4

Some folks we talked to described this as a nightmare swap when discussing shoehorning the tall and wide 5.4 into a pre-S197 Mustang. It’s inches taller and wider than anything else, including a 460. Engine size isn’t the only issue, as the weight of the earlier iron-blocks is a concern, both its mass and high placement. Of course, if you’re moving it into an early car, a GT500 requires endless fabrication to accommodate its numerous accessory systems, such intercooler pumps, and charge cooling water radiators, as well as fitting Hydraboost braking (or going manual), plus adding the necessary strengthening in a Fox, SN-95, or New Edge. Naturally, FRPP has a Control Pack, which greatly simplifies the wiring of the engine controls in an earlier car.

Of course, that’s if you are going back to a Fox like our Fox 500 project. Moving a GT500 5.4 into an S197 is a far less daunting task. With a proper donor car, you can swap the engine, trans, and wiring straight over with only a few wiring quirks. In fact, one of our feature cars in this month’s issue, owned by Alex Pappas, was converted from a Three-Valve to a GT500 5.4 in an incredible five days by an experienced swapper. 5.0